The Pirate and his Toothbrush

Big Helper

One of Alex's new favorite things to do is put the silverware away when we unload the dishwasher. Of course he puts everything exactly where its supposed to go!

A few cute pics...

...courtesy of Daddy!

The boy is asleep, my laptop is full... let the blogging begin!

I'm not sure if we should be worried about this one and his possible future endeavors... Uhhhhhh, we turned out alright, I think. Anyway, Alex spent the afternoon spinning around in circles and making himself dizzy. Funny stuff.

In all seriousness, though, Alex is really enjoying being in his body and discovering all the things he can do with it. He walked around today making little patterns of clapping, waving and flapping his arms, stopping and going... with a huge grin on his face all the while. We were just tickled watching him, and I think he enjoyed performing for us.

Also, he started saying "Daddy" today! A real big boy word!

Goofball

It was late in the evening on a night that Alex decided he was going to stay up a bit later than normal. I pulled out the camera because he was walking around the house laughing hysterically- at what, I don't know. Of course, he stops pretty much as soon as the camera comes out, but he was still acting like a nut, so I thought I'd share.

The Reluctant Artist

Alex has become quite interested in writing and making his own marks on paper with a pen, so I decided that it was time to try out some finger paints. I think he was a bit turned off by the texture and the fact that the paint stayed on his hands, but he was a good sport and gave it the old college try. The session lasted all of 5 minutes, and the resulting artwork ended up being a collaboration with mama. But hey- we have our first masterpiece for the fridge. Hooray! We are working on a chalkboard wall for his room right now, so hopefully he'll enjoy experimenting with chalk.

Our Little Chi-Chi

Much to Omar's delight, Alex enjoys- and isn't even half bad- playing golf! We filmed this about 2 weeks ago, and you can see that he is polishing up those walking skills.

I know Grandpa Steve would be proud. All Alex needs now is a hat like Chi-Chi Rodriguez!

At the Shore

We spent mama's birthday weekend at the shore. We had a great time- Alex got to play in the sand, we spent some time at the pool, and as always, ate really well. Thanks again, Robyn and Jordan! Megan, Dave, and Aly- it was so great to spend a nice relaxing weekend with you guys. Apples to Apples rocks!

Be sure to check out our Picasa web album under "The Haagen-Garcia Photo Pages". There are tons more pics of our little guy having fun in the sun. He has a better tan than I do now!!

13 Months Old

I thought it fitting to post a video of what he is concentrating on the most right now- walking. He’s getting pretty good at it, but as you’ll see, still having trouble standing up without pulling himself up. The fussing towards the end is Alex in a nutshell: very persistent, but easily frustrated and definitely lets you know how he feels.

New this month!

-As of his birthday, he graduated to a forward facing car seat. One year and 20lbs! I think he likes being able to see, but looks very uncomfortable when he falls asleep in it.
Says “Dada” all the time now. Wakes up in the morning- “Dada”, all day long “Dada”! Dada is at work. Now he only says “Mama” when he’s sad or tired.
-Walking! He loves to walk and throw his own diaper in the trash. He actually started doing this when he was only crawling, but I think its too difficult to slide the diaper along the floor with him. He also started “running”. It’s pretty funny- his feet go up and down very fast, but he hardly goes anywhere! I’ve been trying to capture that on video, but no luck yet.
-His favorite song continues to be “The Itsy Bitsy Spider”, but now he does the hand motions that go along with it. All except the “spider” itself. I can relate, though. It takes coordination! He has connected the signs in the song to the rest of his world, which is pretty cool. Today a storm blew through and he kept signing “down came the rain”.
-Points at everything!
-Loves to play peek-a-boo and often treats us to a game of it with his favorite blanket when he wakes up in the morning.
-I think he is trying to speak more. He loves his kitties and says “ki-ki-ka” when they around come for some bubba lovin’. We also cook together quite a bit, so he is learning to say ‘hot”- “hah”.
-Teeth! Only one so far, but I think we’ll have a small mouthful by the time this first round is finished.
-Today he started signing “fish”! We have a nice tank full of really pretty fish that we show him all the time, but it takes a cheesy drawing of a fish in one of his board books for him to actually make the connection. Go figure!

One more thing that I forgot to write about: Alex enjoys giving things to people now. We are using the opportunity to work on the signs for "please" and "thank you". He's really turning out to be a sweet and sensitive little kid!

So much to blog, so little time...

We've done so many fun things these past few weeks that I have a ton of great pictures just waiting to be shared with everyone. The problem is finding some quiet time to sit and blog them all!

So enjoy the following posts...

Teeth!... and lots of them?

This is a shot of our miserable little bubba. He's finally getting some teeth and having a terrible time of it; pain so much that he can hardly nurse or eat, a fever around 101, and a bit of diarrhea. At this point, the bottom left tooth has cut through the gums, with the bottom right not far behind. I'm pretty sure the top two teeth are about to cut, and there are two suspiciously large bumps next to those. So we are looking at the possibility of 6 teeth in this first go round.

Sigh. Poor kid! And of course he has a fever during a heat wave and on the hottest day of the year.

Picnic in the Park

We went to a "concert in the park" at the Morris Arboretum with the Palmers and the Markhams last Thursday. Magic Hat hosted a beer tasting (yum!) and "Philly Gumbo" played some great Reggae music. It was incredibly hot- we were all glad when it began to cool as evening fell. We had a nice spread, and the arboretum was absolutely beautiful. Alex got to hang out with the grownups in his camping chair, and got a little practice walking around with Da-da.

This photo collage depicts yet another instance in which Alex ends up in tears (see the "water play" post below). He was being cute and playing peek-a-boo, which must have interested Hunter tremendously, because he reached out and grabbed Alex's nose. Let the waterworks begin!

First Sushi

My friend Erica came over last week for a visit and brought us a sushi lunch. Vegetarian maki for Alex, of course. He ate a little avocado and tomato out of one piece, and mom got the rest. Sweet!

First Boo-Boo

Alex's first boo-boo necessitating the use of a band-aid, and the subsequent removal of said band-aid.

Water Play

A few weekends ago, we went to our friends Ivan and Beth's house to celebrate Beth's birthday. They have three kids, so the place is crazy toy heaven. Alex really enjoyed their water table- it held his attention for a good hour or so. He just loved it. Well, he loved it until Tori took his boat.
His feelings get so hurt when other kids take stuff away from him. Its really hard not to laugh- he goes from laughing to crying in .2 seconds. Some things never change, I guess.

Computer Savvy

Alex is obsessed with our laptop- so much so, that we got him his own (courtesy of Grandma Rui!). Alex likes our display better though.

These Are A Few of His Favorite Things...

Here's some pics of the things that Alex loves best right now: playing on the stairs and peeking through the railings, playing in the refigerator (we still find all kinds of crazy things in the meat drawer), and hanging out in his very own chair.

Feet First

He mastered "feet first" and now there's no stopping him! Up and down everywhere.

CCD shot this little collection out in front of our house when she was here for his birthday. I love these and finally got around to posting them. Thanks for capturing all these great moments, Christina!